Welcome

Welcome to the POZ Community Forums, a round-the-clock discussion area for people with HIV/AIDS, their friends/family/caregivers, and
others concerned about HIV/AIDS. Click on the links below to browse our various forums; scroll down for a glance at the most recent posts; or join in the
conversation yourself by registering on the left side of this page.

Privacy Warning: Please realize that these forums are open to all, and are fully searchable via Google and other search engines. If you are HIV positive
and disclose this in our forums, then it is almost the same thing as telling the whole world (or at least the World Wide Web). If this concerns you, then do not use a
username or avatar that are self-identifying in any way. We do not allow the deletion of anything you post in these forums, so think before you post.

The information shared in these forums, by moderators and members, is designed to complement, not replace, the relationship between an individual and his/her own
physician.

All members of these forums are, by default, not considered to be licensed medical providers. If otherwise, users must clearly define themselves as such.

Forums members must behave at all times with respect and honesty. Posting guidelines, including time-out and banning policies, have been established by the moderators
of these forums. Click here for “Am I Infected?” posting guidelines. Click here for posting guidelines pertaining to all other POZ community forums.

We ask all forums members to provide references for health/medical/scientific information they provide, when it is not a personal experience being discussed. Please
provide hyperlinks with full URLs or full citations of published works not available via the Internet. Additionally, all forums members must post information which are
true and correct to their knowledge.

I like the forums here because I laugh too often on those twisted posts and replies. I was wondering tonight, what is the percentage of people that posted in "Am I Infected" and turn out positive, or just read the forums after they became positive and come back to post in the rest of the forums. Is that known? Or are we scaring people by our naughty posts?

It seems to me that there is compassion, love and help in most of the people that post here, but that the overall postings in "Living with HIV" are mostly dark humor that may not be appreciated by everyone?

Has this been discussed before?

Milker (i don't look/sound like it but i'm twisted)(damn I used the parenthesis like MtD and Bucko i'm doomed)

I will have to say that I was "scared" away during my first few months after my diagnosis. This place seemed too intense to me. I had enough to deal with at that point in time. Now I'm more comfortable here and have made several very cool acquaintenances. But I think your point may be well taken that at first the "Liviing With" boards may be a bit too overwhelming for some.

And I've only seen one person go from Am I Infected to poz in the four months I've been here.

Interesting. This would confirm that that people who get HIV are well aware of the risks they've taken and are not "surprised" by the results. Angry, yes, but not "surprised".

I didn't really read the forums before joining. A friend told me about the lessons on the website and after reading I announced my newbie status on here. I didn't know what to expect, except that I felt that this was the place to get support. I then read a bunch of posts, going from totally crazy to so compassionate from the same people I felt I was home.

You say that extremely poorly equipped to deal with HIV but with life in general won't make it here. What are their alternatives? I feel like helping them, seriously.

Really, one could point to a variety of factors on this forum that could scare newbies away.

Most people on this forum are male.

Most people on this forum are gay males.

Most people on this forum are white.

Most people on this forum are politically left-leaning.

Most people on this forum are Anglophones.

Most people on this forum live in the United States.

Most people on this forum are over the age of 30 but under the age of 60.

Most people on this forum like cats.

Most people on this forum like porn.

There are a whole bunch of attributes this community has that could be accused of "scaring away" potential members... but most of them tend to be ignored unless somebody's bull is being gored.

My point is... if say, a heterosexual Republican male was to find out that he was HIV+ and were to come to this forum... he would find precious few people like him. But if he were to allow such a superficial reading to put him off from becoming a member here... then it would be his loss and to his detriment.

Hi again guys and others - I figure that with all the junk we Poz people have to put up with, a sense of humour must be maintained - I have experienced highs and some very dark lows - to the point of contemplating a massive overdose of some medication. I have support of friends and family and I believe that a sense of humour is the last true bastion of sanity

Interesting. This would confirm that that people who get HIV are well aware of the risks they've taken and are not "surprised" by the results. Angry, yes, but not "surprised".

I'm not entirely sure what you mean by that.

And what I was saying was that people who get riled up by other people's senses of humor or whatever are generally extraordinarily inflexble and intolerant of other people's random characteristics. It's like racism... only slightly less idiotic.

More often than not, those people fail at life, to say nothing of how they'll fare in an Internets forum.

And what I was saying was that people who get riled up by other people's senses of humor or whatever are generally extraordinarily inflexble and intolerant of other people's random characteristics. It's like racism... only slightly less idiotic.

I don't agree, not everyone can deal with this the way you and me do. Some people get offended when someone is laughing about a difficult situation, and I respect that. Don't trash people who can't react the same way you do.

Because access to the series of tubes is generally restricted by how much money you make.

Who tends to make more money than any other racial group in America?

Crackers.

Yeah... that's what I'm saying... you didn't notice that most of us were honkies until it was pointed out.

And yet, no one is asking, "does the fact that there are so many white people here scare off poz members of other racial groups?"

That's why I've found these discussions of what we choose to post rather disingenous... there are scads and oodles of other things that could "scare people away." But people tend to not bring them up because they could be implicated as being part of the problem.

I don't agree, not everyone can deal with this the way you and me do. Some people get offended when someone is laughing about a difficult situation, and I respect that. Don't trash people who can't react the same way you do.

Look, when someone posts about having an OI... neither I nor my demented comrades-in-arms are going to post something about how hilarious PCP can be.

Not unless they've had PCP themselves and wish to do so in their own threads.

And if someone were to do that in a thread that's not their own, I think everyone here would find it to be in extremely poor taste and incredibly insensitive... and believe me... everyone would let them know about it.

If I want to find certain aspects of my life with HIV funny and wish to post it, I can do so. If someone chooses to find that offensive, they can do so. If someone wants to not be a member here because they're so offended... they can do so. They're also lame if my expression of life with HIV offends them so greatly.

There are a lot of people here who I don't particularly like (and who don't particularly like me). We stay out of each other's threads and get on with our lives like adults.

Because access to the series of tubes is generally restricted by how much money you make.

Who tends to make more money than any other racial group in America?

Crackers.

Yeah... that's what I'm saying... you didn't notice that most of us were honkies until it was pointed out.

And yet, no one is asking, "does the fact that there are so many white people here scare off poz members of other racial groups?"

That's why I've found these discussions of what we choose to post rather disingenous... there are scads and oodles of other things that could "scare people away." But people tend to not bring them up because they could be implicated as being part of the problem.

Woah (bis)

Erm I'm speechless, I need to think about this. So many black people are infected. So ok not only I want to become a HIV counselor but I want to work in mostly black areas. Racism is a virus that my body fought since birth, and should I die from HIV, I'll be happy that I didn't die of racism.

Look, when someone posts about having an OI... neither I nor my demented comrades-in-arms are going to post something about how hilarious PCP can be.

Not unless they've had PCP themselves and wish to do so in their own threads.

And if someone were to do that in a thread that's not their own, I think everyone here would find it to be in extremely poor taste and incredibly insensitive... and believe me... everyone would let them know about it.

If I want to find certain aspects of my life with HIV funny and wish to post it, I can do so. If someone chooses to find that offensive, they can do so. If someone wants to not be a member here because they're so offended... they can do so. They're also lame if my expression of life with HIV offends them so greatly.

There are a lot of people here who I don't particularly like (and who don't particularly like me). We stay out of each other's threads and get on with our lives like adults.

Yeah. What he said.

Andrew(who is HAMMERED)

Logged

LIFE is not a race to the grave with the intention of arriving safelyin a pretty and well-preserved body, but, rather to skid in broadside,thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming--WOW! WHAT ARIDE!!!

LIFE is not a race to the grave with the intention of arriving safelyin a pretty and well-preserved body, but, rather to skid in broadside,thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming--WOW! WHAT ARIDE!!!

Wife got so drunk she was making shit up and locking me out of the bedroom. She is SO cute when she gets hammered. She's gonna wake up in the morning and wonder why the doorknob isnt on the door anymore and Im gonna still be laughing!

Logged

LIFE is not a race to the grave with the intention of arriving safelyin a pretty and well-preserved body, but, rather to skid in broadside,thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming--WOW! WHAT ARIDE!!!

LIFE is not a race to the grave with the intention of arriving safelyin a pretty and well-preserved body, but, rather to skid in broadside,thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming--WOW! WHAT ARIDE!!!

LIFE is not a race to the grave with the intention of arriving safelyin a pretty and well-preserved body, but, rather to skid in broadside,thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming--WOW! WHAT ARIDE!!!

As long as everyone toes the line everything is OK. Even though benj pointed out the most common demographics about forum members we have representatives from every minority group (if one considers non-USAvians as minority groups) except maybe Amazonian pygmies. They might be here but lurking.

Mindless banter to quantum theory and all things in between. Mostly the former, though. It keeps the advertisers happy.

Logged

Life is full of pain, I'm cruisin' through my brainAnd I fill my nose with snow and go Rimbaud,Go Rimbaud, go Rimbaud,And go Johnny go, and do the watusi, oh do the watusi

LIFE is not a race to the grave with the intention of arriving safelyin a pretty and well-preserved body, but, rather to skid in broadside,thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming--WOW! WHAT ARIDE!!!

Because the Jewish side of my family was always a smidge demented and insanely secular, I was never encouraged to convert and attend yeshiva... but I was always exposed to a rather interesting sampling of Jewish humor.

A lot of it tends to be almost gallows-oriented... for obvious reasons if you look at the history.

But there's one story which I always found to be rather amusing and insightful in a way. It goes something like this.

In a town in Eastern Europe, a girl had been found murdered. The resident Jews were fearful of reprisals from the Christian majority and met in the square of the ghetto to meet with the rabbi and try to decide what they should do.

Suddenly, the rabbi ran up very excitedly and yelled, "I have wonderful news, everyone! Wonderful news!"

"What is it?" the people asked him.

"The murdered girl! She was Jewish!"

So there you have it... out of horrible tragedy comes dark humor. I suppose it's rather inevitable... especially from the people who suffer the tragedy.

Because the Jewish side of my family was always a smidge demented and insanely secular, I was never encouraged to convert and attend yeshiva... but I was always exposed to a rather interesting sampling of Jewish humor.

A lot of it tends to be almost gallows-oriented... for obvious reasons if you look at the history.

But there's one story which I always found to be rather amusing and insightful in a way. It goes something like this.

In a town in Eastern Europe, a girl had been found murdered. The resident Jews were fearful of reprisals from the Christian majority and met in the square of the ghetto to meet with the rabbi and try to decide what they should do.

Suddenly, the rabbi ran up very excitedly and yelled, "I have wonderful news, everyone! Wonderful news!"

"What is it?" the people asked him.

"The murdered girl! She was Jewish!"

So there you have it... out of horrible tragedy comes dark humor. I suppose it's rather inevitable... especially from the people who suffer the tragedy.